flamark:Honolulu number 2? I'm calling BS. Obviously, the report's writers were looking for a way to deduct their vacation.

Yeah. And clearly has never sat in Portland traffic. You'll get passed by bicycles in the bike lanes on the surface streets and on the freeway shoulders fairly readily if it's after 6AM and before 7PM.

My parents live in L.A. and my dad will NOT stay off the frickin' 405 - there have been times when we've been approaching an interchange, like from the 10, and seen that traffic is starting to back up, and rather than taking the closest exit, he'll keep on the damn road until traffic. slows. to. a. crawl.

He really is an intelligent man, there are just certain aspects of coping with life that get the better of him.

I live in Riverside (50 miles east of LA), but I also work in Riverside, so my commute is like five minutes long. I couldn't imagine battling the freeways every day (although plenty of people here do). If I absolutely had to do so, I would try to use the Metrolink commuter trains instead.

flamark:Honolulu number 2? I'm calling BS. Obviously, the report's writers were looking for a way to deduct their vacation.

No, Honolulu should be #1. LA is awful, but if you can avoid the 5, 10 and 405, it's really not that bad. Honolulu is amazingly awful with terrible traffic with terrible drivers (At least people in LA and SF actually know how to use the gas pedal and turn signals). Furthermore, I live in Austin, and while the traffic there is not very bad, the rush hour commute there is probably the worst in America. At 5pm, a crosstown drive will take you at least 3 hours. Even the surface streets and "Backroads" are bumper to bumper.

Basically, this list is correct, but depending on the time of year and day, some cities are worse than others. But all the top 5 are the worst traffic cities in America.

I agree with this. It used to take me an hour and a half to get to work every morning, and I would sometimes still be late!!! Very frustrating. I had to go back to part-time as I couldn't handle that commute anymore. I feel bad for the 405 commuters, the shiat they deal with everyday....*shakes head*

Baloo Uriza:And clearly has never sat in Portland traffic. You'll get passed by bicycles in the bike lanes on the surface streets and on the freeway shoulders fairly readily if it's after 6AM and before 7PM.

The same can be said for Los Angeles and Atlanta traffic, too. I know first-hand.

FizixJunkee:Baloo Uriza: And clearly has never sat in Portland traffic. You'll get passed by bicycles in the bike lanes on the surface streets and on the freeway shoulders fairly readily if it's after 6AM and before 7PM.

The same can be said for Los Angeles and Atlanta traffic, too. I know first-hand.

And SF.

And slightly more importantly (since there is NO transit worth taking), San Jose.

raerae1980:I agree with this. It used to take me an hour and a half to get to work every morning, and I would sometimes still be late!!! Very frustrating. I had to go back to part-time as I couldn't handle that commute anymore. I feel bad for the 405 commuters, the shiat they deal with everyday....*shakes head*

We lived in L.A. for years, and only recently left. Fortunately, we lived about 3 miles from work, and none of that 3 miles required getting on the 405.

It did, however, require going OVER (or under, depending if you're on Wilshire or Sunset) the 405, and that meant dealing with all the traffic trying to get onto the 405. Once you were past that, though, it was generally smooth sailing*.

*Provided nothing weird was happening on the 405; the second something (e.g., an accident) occurs on the 405, everyone starts taking surface streets, resulting in traffic throughout the Westside slowing down to a crawl.

Oh, and provided the President wasn't in town. That always messed things up, too.

OK.... where's the punch line ? Have any of you ever tried to deal with the clusterfark that is traffic in Orlando?? How it wasn't in the top 5 is beyond me and as for Tampa there was some real clean acid being dropped when they designed the roads here.

mongbiohazard:As a resident of the Washington DC area I demand a recount.

I think DC dropped on the list because of the shutdown. I had the news on the other day while I was checking email and they were talking about why DC was low on the list when it is usally in the top 5.

My parents live in L.A. and my dad will NOT stay off the frickin' 405 - there have been times when we've been approaching an interchange, like from the 10, and seen that traffic is starting to back up, and rather than taking the closest exit, he'll keep on the damn road until traffic. slows. to. a. crawl.

Depends on the region. Here (Oklahoma) people will tend to default to the surface streets because we have zero tolerance for speeding or slowing. 1 MPH over the maximum or 1 MPH under the minimum is ample reason to get a ticket here (and yes, the courts have upheld these). So if you're listening to traffic or you have it on your nav system, and you see slow traffic ahead on the motorway, you bail ASAP so you don't get caught on the motorway under the minimum speed limit. This means common alternate routes (like 51st Street, 71st Street, Mingo Road, Memorial Drive, and Historic US 66 1932-1972) tend to suck balls if some asshole gets creamed and the expressway backs up. Or it's a sunny Friday or Saturday, in which Garnett, Memorial and 71st not only have their normal traffic, but you also get a lot of people in their show-off (or track cars on Garnett, esp. towards the dragstrip) out cruising those boulevards just for the sake of cruising.

FizixJunkee:The same can be said for Los Angeles and Atlanta traffic, too. I know first-hand.

Well, in LA for sure, and possibly Atlanta, the bike lanes don't appear in places where there's congestion, so you're stuck either lane splitting (legally questionable) or stuck in it sucking fumes. And while California does allow bikes on the freeways unless otherwise posted, in LA county, it's definitely posted.

At least it has things to do, jobs, alright (if seasonless) weather, and if you set it up right, decent transit (pretty much have to have everything lined up so the majority of where you go is on the Metrolink or one of the colored lines, though, although the Metro bus service is still better than most cities). Portland has nothing to do, no jobs, shiatty seasonless weather, impossible traffic and inadequate mass transit (unless you're rich enough to live someplace nice near a MAX stop or (far more likely) willing to live (and lucky enough to find a vacancy) in a barrio near a MAX station and lucky enough to work within walking distance of another MAX station).

Baloo Uriza:So if you're listening to traffic or you have it on your nav system, and you see slow traffic ahead on the motorway, you bail ASAP so you don't get caught on the motorway under the minimum speed limit.

What? They'll ticket people for going under 50mph when they're stuck in a traffic jam? What the farking fark is that?

My parents live in L.A. and my dad will NOT stay off the frickin' 405 - there have been times when we've been approaching an interchange, like from the 10, and seen that traffic is starting to back up, and rather than taking the closest exit, he'll keep on the damn road until traffic. slows. to. a. crawl.

Depends on the region. Here (Oklahoma) people will tend to default to the surface streets because we have zero tolerance for speeding or slowing. 1 MPH over the maximum or 1 MPH under the minimum is ample reason to get a ticket here (and yes, the courts have upheld these). So if you're listening to traffic or you have it on your nav system, and you see slow traffic ahead on the motorway, you bail ASAP so you don't get caught on the motorway under the minimum speed limit. This means common alternate routes (like 51st Street, 71st Street, Mingo Road, Memorial Drive, and Historic US 66 1932-1972) tend to suck balls if some asshole gets creamed and the expressway backs up. Or it's a sunny Friday or Saturday, in which Garnett, Memorial and 71st not only have their normal traffic, but you also get a lot of people in their show-off (or track cars on Garnett, esp. towards the dragstrip) out cruising those boulevards just for the sake of cruising.

[i.imgur.com image 640x480]

They're not joking.

I grew up in Oklahoma, and still drive in the Norman/OKC areas when I'm there visiting family. Nothing I've experienced in that area compares to L.A. or Atlanta. In fact, I can't tell you the number of times my sister, who lives in Norman, has said, "Don't use route XXX...traffic along that road is horrible," when, in fact, the traffic hardly even registered in my brain as noteworthy traffic at all.

meyerkev:jtips: Living in LA after growing up in Boston: nothing I've seen out here compares at all to the scene in Boston.Never again.

In Boston, it was faster to take the subway 5 miles with 2 transfers than it was to take the bus 1 mile.

And it was faster to bike than to do either of those.

/I suppose I could have walked, but hey, I'm lazy.

I hated the MBTA so much, though! Having a car is part of the reason why I love LA.

but then again, I had fainted, via dehydration, on the red line a bunch of times during summers on my commute to/from work, when you're all packed in & they get stuck in the tunnels for a few minutes, no ac, no air, etc.

one time I knew it was coming, but there was nothing I could do, so when I opened my eyes again, everyone was looking downward at me, and I had fainted onto some lady's lap who had a seat. ha.I got off at the next stop & some nervous girl followed me, asking if I was epileptic. haha.